Tandoor bread

Etymology

The English word tandoor comes from Hindi/Urdu hi (तन्दूर / تندور), which derives from Persian tanūr (تنور) or tandūr (تندور). According to the Dehkhoda Persian Dictionary, the Persian word ultimately came from the Akkadian word akk (𒋾𒂟), which consists of the parts akk 'mud' and akk 'fire' and is mentioned as early as in the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh. Tandoor is called sa in Sanskrit literature, in which tandoori parched, roasted cuisine is described as sa (grains, meat, etc. roasted in a tandoor) along with roasting on coal which has been called sa.

History

Food was first cooked in tandoor ovens some five thousand years ago. Remains of a clay oven with indication of cooked food have been excavated in the Indus River valley site of Kalibangan, and other places in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, northwest India, Iran, Iraq and Central Asia.

Varieties

File:Traditional lavash bread making.jpg|Lavash made in tandoor in Armenia File:Tandoor bread 1.jpg|Baking tandoor bread in Azerbaijan File:Tone.JPG|Georgian tonis puri File:Tandoor bread 2.jpg|Prepared tandoor bread File:Tandoorindian.jpg|Making tandoor bread in India File:Traditional georgian bread (tonis puri).jpg|Tonis puri File:Shoti.jpg|Georgian Shotis puri

West Asia

The Arabic name for tandoor bread is ar ('bread of the ar' ). In some places where it is especially common, such as Iraq, it may be called simply ar (bread).

In Iran, tandoor breads are known as fa (). Varieties include nân-e barbari (), tâftun (تافتون), and shirmal (شیرمال).

In Georgia and Armenia, a traditional tandoor is called a tone (თონე) and tʿonir (), and the bread baked in the ka is called tonis ṗuri (თონის პური or ka ). Canoe-shaped shoti (შოთი) is a kind of ka. Lavash ( hy, ლავაში ka) is a tandoor bread eaten in this region.

Central Asia

In Central Asia, tandyr nan (Kazakh/Kyrgyz: kk, Uzbek: uz, ug, tg) is made and eaten.

South Asia

Tandoor breads are popular in northwestern Indian regions, where naan breads and atta flatbreads such as the Tandoori roti are baked in tandoor clay ovens fired by wood or charcoal. These naans are known as tandoori naan (, ).

Tandoor ovens are not common in the average Indian home because they are expensive to fabricate, install and maintain. Authentic tandoori cuisine in urban areas can often be found in specialty restaurants. However, in rural areas in India such as Punjab, the tandoor oven is considered a social institution, for a tandoor oven is shared among the community. Women would go to the oven place with atta along with their marinated meats to meet their neighbors and friends, so they could converse and share stories while waiting for their food to cook. The people in cities once engaged in this social activity, but as businesses and commercialism grew in these areas, communal tandoor ovens became rare. Not uncommonly, people bring food to their local bakeries to cook it there at a fair price. Because of this, people have developed ingenious techniques to replicate the cooking process and the food without the use of the oven. Common alternatives include an oven or a grill fueled by charcoal or wood so the food will be infused with the smoky flavor.

In Pakistani cuisine, tandoor breads are a staple across the country. These range from a simple unleavened Tandoori roti, to yeast-based khamiri roti, as well as richer and more complex (yeast, milk, egg, etc.-based) naans and kulcha breads.

Tandoor bread is gaining popularity in Asia, North America (outside of the Caribbean) and Europe due to the Indian diaspora during British colonialism.

Caribbean

Tandoor bread is found in Caribbean countries such as Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago (as roti).

Physical and chemical composition

Aroma, smell, appearance, color, size and overall texture are the general characteristics that are optimized by producers of tandoor bread. The texture and quality of tandoor bread are determined by the percentage of wheat protein, the number of essential amino acids and the type of flour present in the bread. Various studies have demonstrated that the chemical and biochemical composition of flour affects the flour's ability to interact with the other ingredients in tandoor bread.

Response surface methodology is a process which allows for the development of palatable tandoor breads that have a long shelf life and contain minimal amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which may pose health hazards. For optimal sensory and chemical stability of tandoor bread, the water level is 720 milliliters per kilogram, protein concentrations range from 10.3% to 11.5%, between 1.2 and 1.6% salt is added, and the bread is baked in temperatures ranging from 330 to 450 °C.

References

References

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